I wrote a letter, to my friends and my future friends, about how I think friendship should be. But I changed my mind. Why write a letter? It felt like pleading, desperate. @@Friendship, like any good relationship, must be two-way. It must begin with me.@@ I should state what I want from it instead of squeezing myself into the empty cracks of the other person to form a whole. And if the other person reacts in a negative way, then that's an obvious clue the friendship will never be two-way. Never ever beg for the acceptance of another. Let's be ourselves to draw the right people to us. Quality over quantity. You can be friends with a thousand people but if you're compromising yourself, the friendship is in no way genuine.

Below are the ten commandments of a good friendship, the kind we should all be striving for. In this time when it's easy to "connect" with another person, think about how many connections serve nothing good at all. Make it a checklist if you must, which you can use in evaluating your friendships. Let's give it a better name, something stronger and powerful. Let's call it The Friendship Manifesto, which will contain our new standards in cultivating a healthy, positive, and great friendship. Pull a friend to your side, read the manifesto together, and start building a relationship that will motivate and inspire you from here on out.

THE FRIENDSHIP MANIFESTO

We shall stop living in the good old times of the unchangeable past and instead be fully engaged in the potential-filled present.

We shall stop whining and basking in our problems and instead create solutions that will benefit all.

We shall stop treating like a plague each other's differences and instead honour and admire each other's individuality.

We shall stop interrupting each other when speaking and instead listen, acknowledge, and understand what's being communicated.

We shall stop outdoing each other in competitions destructive to both and instead be supportive, genuinely happy, and encouraging to each other.

We shall stop caging each other in boxes of delusions that we know the other more than they know themselves and instead respect each other's liberty to grow, to evolve, to change, and to taste the great things life has to offer.

We shall stop being busybodies with other people's business and instead focus and work on improving the life we both shared.

We shall stop making food, celebrity, weather, and other trivial things alike be the only bind of our camaraderie and instead get to know each other's fears, hopes, ambitions, and dreams.

We shall stop each other from withering away into mediocrity and instead encourage each other to welcome new horizons and to dare great adventures.

We shall stop denying each other of our true selves and instead give our genuine spirit and authenticity.

Sign this (symbolically) by you and your friend and begin a meaningful and valuable relationship starting today.

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